Category: Television Miniseries (on DVD)
Genre: Fantasy / Adventure / Reboot
Directed By: Nick Willing
Presented By: Sci-Fi Channel
Running Time: 264 min. (3 episodes)
Tin Man, is essentially a modern steampunk-influenced retelling of “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”. Originally aired on Sci-fi in three parts, I recently watched the mini-series on dvd in one sitting.
The plot and story were pleasantly unexpected treatments of the original Oz, which is only loosely alluded to in the course of the new telling. Through the first two acts, the pacing was reasonably maintained, but did start to get bouncy in the third act.
I was surprised and impressed with the production values and casting choices in this production. Neal McDonough (Minority Report, First Contact) as Cain (ie. the Tin Man) took a more subtle approach to his character than is usually seen, and avoids becoming “that sci-fi guy”. Alan Cummings (X2’s Nightcrawler) as Glitch/Ambrose (ie. the Scarecrow), presents a wonderful character, and brings a great deal of accesibility and heart to the role. Zooey Deschanel (Eulogy) as DG (ie. Dorthy Gale) is refreshingly real and off kilter as she interacts with the world of th O.Z.; in grappling with her past and emotional repercussions however, something is left to be desired. The writers dumbed down Raoul Trujillo’s/Raw’s (ie. Cowardly Lion) lines to the extent that he really never gets a chance to shine and that’s really a shame as so much could be done in context of his character’s treatment. Kathleen Robertson as Azkadellia delivers what we’ve come to expect in an attractive conflicted villianness character. Surprisingly, though he provides an interesting performance, Richard Dreyfuss as the Miracle Man (ie. the Wizard) makes a rather early exit from the story.
Unfortunately even Tin Man didn’t dodge the bullet of end sequence difficulties; after developing what is largely a character driven story, the ending sequence became mechanical and failed to capitalize or maintain the viewers investment in the characters. This was the appropriate place to recover from the stumbles of the third act, but goes for an almost canned ending (happily someone does melt; sadly no houses are dropped), and neglects to wrap up many of the characters we’ve come to care about.
All in all, for a Sci-fi mini-sereis, this far exceeded any expectations I had coming to it, and as a work of creative fiction I enjoyed this treatment of the original Oz story. There are some great gems in here, so I recommend checking it out, warts and all.
Rating: 6/10
